Among the Stars
by Syberian Quest
Summary: For so long, she had been overlooked. Rebuked. Ignored. Finally, she decided to take a stand. Little did she know, this one action would inevitably change her entire future. Not only that, but it would also change the world's.


The last thing she saw was the stars.

Then, it was darkness. Quickly, Irina dashed towards the nearest wall. A soft beeping sound had filled the air, and Irina knew she had mere seconds left to execute her carefully crafted plan. Silently, she pulled out her best friend, a small paper clip, and began to gently pry it apart. This was an art and she its master. No lock had ever stood up against her. Alarms were something foreign to Irina, however. The companies who produced them claimed that they were foolproof, but Irina knew better. Nothing was ever foolproof.

Irina bit her lip as she allowed her cat-like eyes to guide her gaze across the alarm's smooth surface before finding what she was looking for. Carefully, she slipped the paper clip into a small, almost unnoticeable hole. She closed her eyes and forced herself to imagine the alarm's inner workings as she guided the paper clip deeper into the inner wiring. Irina's mind froze as she envisioned what she was looking for, and she let out a self-satisfied smile. One small twist, and the beeping faded to a halt.

Irina held her breath and counted off the seconds.

_One. Two. Three._

The only sound was the clock, its ticking matching the beat of Irina's heart.

Slowly, Irina pulled on the paper clip, and after a few moments, it reemerged. She allowed herself another smug smile, but immediately forced her mind to stay focused. The battle was not over yet.

Stealthily, she guided herself towards the object of her true attention. Eerie shadows danced across the walls, but Irina felt no fear. Fear was the enemy. To let the enemy control her would be as fatal as screaming her intentions to the sky. Fear would not conquer her now. She would not let it.

Painstakingly, she slipped in between the unending rows of filing cabinets.

_Berezovsky._

The name fluttered across Irina's mind as lightly as a butterfly's wing beat. He would be the first, for he was the worst of them.

Silently, she maneuvered her way towards the first of the alphabetically arranged filing cabinets before again revealing her treasured paper clip. This lock would be much easier.

Within seconds, there was a slight click, and Irina gave the cabinet's handle a slight pull. It was remarkable what a simple paper clip could accomplish. Despite its small size, it was an amazingly reliable tool, not to mention very practical, and as of yet, it had never failed her. Strangely enough, it was probably the only thing that never had.

A conspicuous sigh was emitted from the cabinet as Irina pulled it open. The sudden sound made her jump, and she quickly froze, waiting to see if anyone had heard. Fortunately, the silence persisted.

Slowly, and much more carefully, Irina finally pulled the cabin open. Swiftly, she began to scan the files that were contained within.

_Baikov, Beletsky, Berezovsky. _

_Perfect._

As Irina reached in to grab the file, she couldn't help but smirk.

_Finally. Finally you will get what you deserve._

Still, despite her satisfaction, she could not contain the wave of memories that came crashing down on her.

Today. Today had been the last straw. She had been silent, as always, but they had still found a reason to mock her, to humiliate her. It had happened during lunch hour, and she had been sitting in her favorite lonesome spot, misery her only companion. As usual, she had been silently surveying the multitudes when her gaze had fallen upon Dmitri. Dmitri Starkova. He was a kind boy, different from the others. He also happened to be very good looking, which was probably why she had found herself inadvertently staring at him.

After a moment, he had looked up and caught her eye. She had felt herself blushing, but he hadn't turned away in disgust. No, he had smiled at her. _At her. _No one ever did that. No one dared to be caught even smiling at Irina Spasky. Yet that's what he had done. He had smiled at her. This one kind gesture had broken the wall of emotions that she tried so hard to keep intact. She had suddenly found herself _nervous_. She knew fear well enough that she could generally avoid it, but nervousness had a habit of creeping up on her and attacking when she least expected it. It was the one emotion that she could _never_, _ever _feel. For when she did, her eye would twitch, and that's exactly what had happened. She had felt it coming but had been powerless to stop it.

At the exact moment the twitching had begun, someone had noticed that Dmitri's attention was no longer with them. They had followed his gaze to find him looking at Irina and had seen her eye twitching. Alek Berezovsky had been the first to speak up.

"Hey, look at Spaz! I think she's winking at Dmitri!"

Every table within hearing distance had instantly broken into laughter.

Plenty of others had also started spewing insults, just for good measure. Kate Panova, the queen of the school, had even dignified Irina with an appearance.

"You really think that Dmitri would like _you_?" she had spat.

Several of Kate's followers had started laughing, and one had even started snorting. Kate had spent another second smirking at Irina before deciding that she had better places to be. As abruptly as she had come, she had turned on her heel and walked away. For a second, her followers had seemed paralyzed before they finally realized that they were supposed to follow her. Then, as the last girl, the one most desperate to please Kate, had walked by, she had "tripped," and her bowl of almost unidentifiable borshch, beet soup, had spilled all over Irina. Humiliated and ashamed, she had tried her best to ignore the howls of laughter as she had made her most dignified escape to the nearest washroom.

It was there, in the bathroom, that this plan, one that had been lurking in the back of Irina's mind for quite awhile, finally took wing.

No longer would she allow them to walk all over her. She would no longer silently take their abuse. They would pay. They _were _paying.

Irina's mind returned to the present as she eagerly grabbed Berezovsky's file. His grades were certainly nothing to brag about, but after this switch, they would be the ultimate source of humiliation. With grades as bad as his, he'd have no hope of ever going to any half-decent university. His life would remain as pathetic as hers. As Irina made the switch, she noticed his long list of school offenses. Skipping class, bullying, fist fighting, talking back to teachers, etcetera. The list went on for quite a while. He was one of the many students who dominated the school yard and terrorized students, but still, one thing was certain. Their kingdom was only of the moment. As soon as they stepped beyond these school doors, the world would be every bit as cruel to them as they had been to others.

After completing the switch, Irina moved onto Panova. There were only so many switches she could make before people began to become suspicious. Only the very worst could be repaid.

Silently, Irina continued to enact her revenge. From file to file she moved. One student after another. But just as she had almost finished with the last student, she heard the distant sound of footsteps approaching.

_No, no, no!_

As the footsteps continued to quicken, a heavy panting sound filled the air.

_Misha._

The guard dog no one could escape. Although he was a German shepherd, he had the nose of a bloodhound. Panicked, Irina turned, searching for any place to escape the dog's hypersensitive nose. In her panic, she caught sight of the window that she had used as her means of entrance.

It was still open.

_The window! Blin, _Irina thought angrily, _they will know I am here._

The footsteps were coming closer. With no other options, Irina bounded towards the window and gracefully dived through, managing to grab the windowsill before she could plummet 30 feet towards the ground.

She could hear the man now. Misha, too. The dog had her scent and was dragging the man towards the window.

"What is it, Misha?" the guard asked. Then, he noticed the open window. "The window! Why is it open? Is someone here, Misha?"

With all her strength, Irina pressed herself as close to the wall as possible and tried to keep her fingers from view. If the man happened to look down, he would notice several conspicuous fingertips grabbing the windowsill, and it would all be over.

Misha continued to pine for the window and was pulling the guard towards it.

"Stay here, Misha," the guard ordered the dog.

The guard walked towards the window and peered out. He looked around but saw nothing.

"Hmm," was all he said.

Abruptly, he turned and began to scan the room with his flashlight. Misha, obeying his master, continued to sit like a statue and quietly whine. When the man saw nothing, he turned back to Misha.

"Well, boy, looks like whoever was here is gone now."

Painfully, Irina gritted her teeth. She couldn't hold on much longer.

The guard silently surveyed the room before slowly turning to walk out. As he did, the sound of another pair of footsteps reached Irina's ear. Despite the pain, she forced herself to listen.

"What is it?" came another voice.

"Misha was acting up. When I followed him, I found the window open," came the reply.

"No one here?"

"No. If there was anyone here, they're long gone."

"You're going then, I presume?" the second guard remarked.

"_Da_, I need to check the west wing," the first guard responded defensively.

"I'll stay here and keep my eyes out, then," the second guard volunteered.

"_Spaceeba. _Come along, Misha."

Irina could faintly make out the sound of the first guard walking away. Finally, the dog was gone. A guard alone would not be so hard to fool. Painstakingly, Irina hoisted herself up. Her muscles ached, but she managed to pull her feet up upon the windowsill. She needed to get back in soon, though. She could already feel the sill cracking under her weight.

The remaining guard approached the window and, like the first, peered out. He was more thorough, however, and Irina found herself pressed flat against the wall to avoid being seen.

Apparently satisfied, the man pulled his head back in. Unlike the first, however, he reached out to close the window.

_No! He can't close it!_

Quickly, Irina reached out and grabbed the top of the window. She was exhausted, but she managed to muster the last remaining strength that she had and pulled with all of her might.

The guard also pulled. Harder and harder, but to no avail.

"No wonder," the guard muttered to himself. "The window's stuck. Maintenance will need to have a look at this first thing tomorrow."

Satisfied, he turned away from the window, and as he did, Irina silently slipped back in. As she did, the man seemed to sense the movement behind him and swung around, his flashlight illuminating the spot where Irina had been not even seconds before. The man began to move his beam slowly across the room, illuminating all dark corners and potential hiding spots. Meanwhile, Irina was ducking both left and right to avoid being spotted.

Suddenly, a light bulb turned on in Irina's head. The man could see everything in front of him, but he could not see what was behind him. So, swiftly Irina snuck behind the man until she was less than a foot directly behind him. With every turn that he made, Irina copied his movements. When he turned to the left, so did Irina. When he turned to the right, she did also.

When he had finally finished scouring the room, he turned, completely oblivious to the fact that Irina was less than a foot behind him, and walked out of the room.

Alone at last, Irina stayed where she was, not daring to make any movement. Again, she counted the seconds. This time, however, she waited a full minute before springing back to life.

She needed to leave. Now.

Just as she was about to return to the window, an idea struck her. It was risky, but the idea had already fully implanted itself in her mind. Begrudgingly, Irina turned back to the files and began searching for the "_S"_ cabinet.

Her own grades didn't matter. She could easily change them, make them better. There wasn't much point, however. Her grades were already high, and even if she made them higher, that wouldn't make any difference. Her future was already carved in stone. Mrs. Chekov could only keep her for so long. Irina was just fortunate that she hadn't been forced onto the streets the day she had turned 16.

She opened the cabinet and began searching diligently.

_Sokov, Spasky, Starkova._

_Perfect._

Irina pulled out Dmitri's file and began to leaf through his flawless records. Finally, she found his grade sheet and smiled. Straight A+'s. No need for improvement there. Carefully, Irina returned the file to its original spot before facing the room. She spent a moment surveilling it, making sure that nothing was out of place.

Satisfied, Irina again, much more slowly, slipped through the window and grabbed onto one of the neighboring tree's branches. She slowly shimmied down before grabbing onto the tree's trunk and sliding down.

The first ones to greet her were the stars. They were one of the few beautiful things in nature that Irina truly enjoyed. Everything else mocked her, taunted her with their beauty. The stars were different, though. They did not shout out for people's attention but camouflaged themselves in the dead of night. They were a beauty in the darkness, a diamond in the rough.

For the first time in a long, long time, Irina felt triumphant. She had made it. There were no more risks, no more dangers. The guards hadn't caught her, Misha hadn't hounded her out, and Mrs. Chekov would never know. She had never found out about Irina's nighttime excursions. Irina had been slipping in and out of the home since she was eight, and her roommate had never said a word. Well, it wasn't like her roommate said anything, anyway. In the eight years they had been together, her roommate had never even uttered a single word. Not that it mattered. It was probably better that way.

Irina smiled and stepped out of the tree's shadow. For the first time that night, she allowed herself to remain unhidden. She let out a content sigh as her face soaked in the starlight.

All too quickly, the moment was over. Irina knew that to remain uncovered so close to the school for too long would be too risky. Quickly, she dived once again into the shadows and began the long, cold journey home.

* * *

Nearby, on an adjacent rooftop, a man, immersed in shadow, lowered his binoculars.

Beside him, a radio crackled to life. Slowly, he reached for it. He was not a man prone to surprises, but what he had just seen had knocked the wind out of him.

A voice, along with plenty of static, filled the air.

"Is the target in sight?" the voice demanded.

"She just vanished," the man replied.

There was a period of complete silence, and the man almost started to believe that they had lost connection. Then, the silence was again quenched.

"Well?" the voice prodded quizzically. "What shall I tell her? She wants to know if her suspicions were correct."

"Yes," the man replied, _and amazingly so, _he added to himself.

"So," the man continued to prod, "you are sure you are not mistaken? The girl is talented, _da_?"

Annoyed at having his word questioned, the man replied sharply. "Do you doubt what I have said? Is my word not good enough for you?"

"_Nyet_," the voice responded, "it is just my job to…"

The voice died out as the man turned off his radio. He grew tired of the endless droning. What right did any of these youngsters have to doubt him? Had they ever survived assassins, carried secret messages through enemy lines, or braved harsh Siberian winters? No, most spent their days playing with those confounded gadgets of theirs in heated rooms with warm cups of coffee within an arm's reach. Yet they still believed that they had the authority to question him. In the man's own opinion, almost none of the new recruits even deserved to have their names associated with the glorious KGB. The numbers did not rebuke his strong opinions, either. Failed missions were become more of a commonplace these days, and it was beginning to show. This girl, however, was better than half of the agents at the KGB put together.

The man glanced up at the stars. He had always thought that, in many ways, people were just like those twinkling balls of fire millions of miles away. All humans had potential, but some shone brighter than others. Often, the hardships of this world were dimming, and just like a city's lights concealing the stars, they would result in the demise of something beautiful.

The man sighed. Few could say that they knew hardship as well as he did. It seemed to follow him like the plague. Hardship had beaten and bruised him enough that he had learned to take whatever it had to offer with little to say in return. Despite its cruelty, though, it had taught him many lessons. Most importantly, it had made him stronger. It had paved the way for him and had shaped him into the man that he had become.

The man suddenly felt something strange inside of him, something foreign. It was the girl. She had broken the dam of memories that he had been holding back for so long. He had seen her file; she was like him. She knew hardship personally, just as he did. In her, he had seen the reflection of what he had been so many years ago.

The man turned and began to gather his few possessions. Staying too long in one place was dangerous; he knew that better than anyone. Quietly, he snuck away, but as he did, he made a promise to himself. Whatever hardships this girl would go through, she would not go through them alone. She deserved much better than this. She had so much potential, so much to offer. No, she would not be alone. Soon, her life would change dramatically. Her bitter future that seemed set in stone would soon be altered.

Soon, she would take her place among the stars.


End file.
